Infringement. Who cares?

[RyanLilly]

"Corn Flakes", pretty basic, but trademarked by Kelloggs.
Every other brand may sell "flakes of corn," or come up with a different name.

I think the trademark on Strobist is pretty solid.

 

[epp_b]

Can you find me a documented use of the word strobist prior to 2/28/2006?

Just curious as if there's anything out there.

I never claimed that there was prior art. I said that it's obviousness should invalidate it, just like the case with most patents.

 

[Overread]

"Corn Flakes", pretty basic, but trademarked by Kelloggs.
Every other brand may sell "flakes of corn," or come up with a different name.

I think the trademark on Strobist is pretty solid.

Tesco Corn Flakes (500g) in Tesco | mySupermarket

Seems Tesco can sell Corn Flakes

I still think that the Strobist name as a trade marked name is on very iffy grounds. If strobist is trademarked surely strobe would also have to be trademarked as well.

 

[Village Idiot]

Can you find me a documented use of the word strobist prior to 2/28/2006?

Just curious as if there's anything out there.

I never claimed that there was prior art. I said that it's obviousness should invalidate it, just like the case with most patents.

"Corn Flakes", pretty basic, but trademarked by Kelloggs.
Every other brand may sell "flakes of corn," or come up with a different name.

I think the trademark on Strobist is pretty solid.

Tesco Corn Flakes (500g) in Tesco | mySupermarket

Seems Tesco can sell Corn Flakes

I still think that the Strobist name as a trade marked name is on very iffy grounds. If strobist is trademarked surely strobe would also have to be trademarked as well.

Kind of like Apple?

 

[RyanLilly]

I want to trademark the word "sale." Think about it, I would be rich!

 

[RyanLilly]

"Corn Flakes", pretty basic, but trademarked by Kelloggs.
Every other brand may sell "flakes of corn," or come up with a different name.

I think the trademark on Strobist is pretty solid.

Tesco Corn Flakes (500g) in Tesco | mySupermarket

Seems Tesco can sell Corn Flakes

I still think that the Strobist name as a trade marked name is on very iffy grounds. If strobist is trademarked surely strobe would also have to be trademarked as well.

The trademark may not apply in the UK; I really don't know, but in the US, Kelloggs are the only boxes that say "Corn Flakes."

And Strobe not being a trademark makes no difference. That's like saying that General Mills can't trademark "Wheaties" because it is derived from the word "Wheat."

 

[RyanLilly]

Personally, I prefer Oatmeal Crisp.

 

[epp_b]

Kind of like Apple?

Funny you should bring it up...

I am not a lawyer and all that, so I could be wrong, but I think there is a "standard of confusion" (my term, not an official one) that needs to occur before a trademark dispute can be considered valid.

For example, there's "Apple Inc." (the computer company) and Apple Auto Glass (obviously not the same thing). Even though they share same core word (heyuk, heyuk), there's never been a dispute -- at least not that I'm aware of -- and I don't think anyone would confuse the two.

Perhaps it has something to do with that Apple Auto Glass is a Canadian company, but Apple has a retail presence in Canada as well.

 

[Overread]

Might be that Apple only holds the trademark name within a certain market area only and that outside of that area you can use the Apple name to some degree or another without Apple having a comeback - otherwise there would be a lot of grocery stores coming under flack from Apple

 

[LokiZ]

Seriously, when your name gets that big it's not those who try to use your name that you have to worry about long term... It's the misinformation of terms and improper use of trademarks that lead to a trademark going the way of a genericized trademark. That is what you need to look out for. Those kinds of improper uses to get your trademark higher recognition for many a registered trademark has signaled the beginning of the end.

Flash = strobe; Strobe = flash; It doesn't even matter if it's true or not if that is what the masses believe. You can make it your personal life goal to educate them back to what is the truth, but I am telling you 100% completion of that task will be a failing mission. It's like a virus. Depending on where you call home the courts may very well side with what the uninformed masses know to be incorrectly true as well.

Those companies that are large enough and smart enough to be able monitor this and fight this ahead of time are better off of course. Even then it is still some what out of their hands and part of the cost of having high market dominance. When your trademark name no longer indicates who makes the product but instead to the masses transforms into your product or service itself you have a much harder fight to win.

I say now is the time for him to fight of course, if it is not already to late. Best of luck to him as that will indeed play some part to his hopeful story of success.

The below listed are just a small taste of some genericized trademarks:

The sony Walkman, Rollerblades, Kleenex, Band-Aid, Lego, escalator, aspirin, Scotch Tape, Cellophane, Dry ice, Escalator, Heroin, Hoover, Kerosene, Linoleum, Mimeograph, Netbook, Petrol, Pilates, Thermos, Touch-tone, Trampoline, Videotape, Webster's Dictionary, Yo-Yo, Zipper

Some have fallen, some still stand, some it depends on where you are located. But be assured bigger names then the Strobist have fought and lost. With the way I see it going as time continues on I would not be surprised if his fight just keeps getting harder and harder. At least for now he can be somewhat reassured that at least the term "strobist" has not found it's way into the common dictionary. ...but for how long?

Just how I see it from where I sit.

 

[Garbz]

Perhaps it has something to do with that Apple Auto Glass is a Canadian company, but Apple has a retail presence in Canada as well.

Might be that Apple only holds the trademark name within a certain market area only and that outside of that area you can use the Apple name to some degree or another without Apple having a comeback - otherwise there would be a lot of grocery stores coming under flack from Apple

Funny you both should mention that:
Apple bites over Woolworths logo

 

[epp_b]

That looks like trademark trolling to me. Even with my relatively-low opinion of the public's intelligence, nobody is dumb enough to confuse those logos.

 

[Dao]

Perhaps it has something to do with that Apple Auto Glass is a Canadian company, but Apple has a retail presence in Canada as well.

As I mentioned previously, Nissan computer and Nissan Motors can co-exist in USA. Nissan own the domain name nissan.com and Nissan Motors tried very hard to get the domain name and even sue Nissan computer. (Back and forth and all the way to the supreme court). But at the end, Nissan computer still own nissan.com